State/Local Advocacy for TGNC Youth in Schools

Session Info

Presenters

Track

Format

Panel discussion

Topics

Education and Schools, Legal, Self-Advocacy

TGNC youth face staggering disparities in educational experiences and outcomes in the K-12 setting. The Obama administration’s support for addressing these disparities bolstered the legal protections, remedies, and climate for TGNC youth nationwide. With the rescission of much of that support and outright attacks on TGNC people by the Trump Administration; TGNC youth, their family/friends, and advocates are increasingly turning to judicial and state/local advocacy options. The aim of this panel is to discuss the various avenues these stakeholders should be utilizing in fighting for the rights

Intended audience(s)

TGNC youth, parents/guardians of TGNC youth, individuals who work with TGNC youth, and interested parties

About the presenters

Anthony Luken

Anthony Luken is a Paralegal for the Transgender Rights Project in the New York office of Lambda Legal, the oldest and largest national legal organization committed to achieving the full recognition of civil rights for lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, transgender people, and everyone living with HIV.

Alexis Paige

Alexis Paige is a Paralegal at Lambda Legal. As a Paralegal, Paige supports Lambda Legal attorneys on an array of matters, including, but not limited to, discrimination affecting transgender adults and youths, people living with HIV, the rights of same gender couples, and regularly assists transgender service members and transgender and non-binary youths in schools. She has also gives presentations, participates in panels, and speaks at rallies on behalf of Lambda Legal.
Alexis Paige is an honoree of the 2015 Trans 100 and a 2015 Gay & Lesbian Archives of the Pacific Northwest’s Queer Hero.

Shayna Medley

Shayna Medley is an attorney at the national ACLU LGBT & HIV Project. Her work focuses on litigation, advocacy, and public education on behalf of trans, non-binary, and gender nonconforming youth facing discrimination in schools. She has been counsel on several ACLU cases defending transgender students’ right to access facilities consistent with their gender identity in schools, including Grimm v. Gloucester County School Board and Parents for Privacy v. Dallas School District.

Spencer Garcia

Spencer Garcia is a queer and non-binary Afro-Puerto Rican actively committed to the liberation of queer and trans people of color. They are a recent graduate of Vassar College, where they received a Bachelor of Arts degree with honors in Women, Feminist, & Queer Studies and Sociology. Spencer is the founder and editor-in-chief of Lacunae: An Undergraduate Journal for Queer of Color Critique, a workshop facilitator, and a collage artist. Currently, they work as the Legal Administrative Assistant for the ACLU’s LGBT & HIV Project in New York City.